The writing was nice (though of course in translation) and the eye for detail and dialogue are both top notch. My ability to "connect" with this book, however, was not so good. Maybe that's my fault (ok, it is my fault), but I'm sure that others in America will have the same trouble. I can understand Nobel consideration just on his ability, but I'd have to read more than just this one (all I've read) to say I agree with the award. I just don't know anything about Poland or Germany. I'm sure that many others don't either. If you don't, you can still enjoy the writing, but that's probably where it will end, since the whole book will end up feeling very foreign. For me it was a distraction. If you want to read some Grass, I would recommend starting with something else...I wish I had. Overall, just average, I'm glad I read it, but I had higher expectations than it was able to meet.

It's an interesting book... if you know Gdansk or Poland. It is interesting because in this book Grass goes beyond his usual calls for Polish-German reconciliation. He suggests -- in no uncertain terms -- that if Poles want the Germans to accept the Polish authority over Gdansk, they themselves have to accept Lithuanian authority over Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which belonged to Poland for a number of years between the two world wars. Making this observation is very important given that we, Polish people, usually see ourselves as victims of history and rarely as culprits.

One of the main qualities of the story is that it creates a very detailed picture of the very near future of Gdansk -- a future in which a park near the Gdansk Polytechnic gets converted into a German cementary, where certain German-Polish-Lithuanian reconciliation efforts are under way. Reading all the detailed descriptions of all the things Grass sees changing in Gdansk convinces me of his good knowledge of the city. The drawback of it is that the book is heavily time-stamped and probably not that interesting to those, who do not know Gdansk or, at least, Poland.

Reconciliation and forewell. As in the "Danzig trilogy", canvas of exclusively humane interplay of reconciliation's, changes and departures are painted. Grass commands knowledge of Polish and German things. Be it geography, local idioms, smell of the country sides. Descriptions of farmers market, streets and places, details of the appearance of mushroom (Boletus edulis), even description of soil is vivid. For a reader who, in his past, lived in Gdansk and knows first hand conditions of life in Poland, this book is a nostalgic trip into memories, source of reflections. There is this poetic melancholy in accepting changing world : ideals replaced with organised greed; Families decaying and destroyed; Brick wall coming down, walls between people building; Lakes desacrated by developments, their waters no more holding crawfish. Author is a keen judge of new world. He ackowledges manipulative genius of a great leader, and shallow pettiness of small; he regrets indiscriminate killings and impersonal wars of present.; he see ingrained prejudices (Polish vitriolic russophobia, German xenophobia) even in otherwise good people. Mellow and enchanting account of fast changing world. - For better ?

Maybe, as a history buff, I'm getting used to more interesting presentational formats of history. Perhaps that's why I found this book, generally, to be a very boring exercise in reading something. I was disappointed.

The battles, leaders and controversies of the war are seen through the eyes of the young officers from the US military academy. From the earliest battles through the end -- insights on the military strategy and political issues of the war are illuminated. The post war careers of the officers bring to light still relevant controversies concerning the reconstruction period. Well documented and well selected this is a gold mine of insights for those interested in the Civil War period.

The Class of 1861 is an immensely readable account of the group. Kirshner has provided a chronological account of the famous class that focuses primarily on various Civil War battles, but also the post war period. This collection of stories and short biographies taken from a prodigious amount of primary sources provides many interesting insights into the military experience and mindset of the professionally trained soldier. All in all, this book gives an interesting account of a group of young individuals from our Service Academy trained in the art of war that, perhaps fortunately or perhaps not, gets the opportunity to use their skill and knowledge right after, and in some cases, before graduation.

Incidentally, the picture of the front cover is believed to be the earliest photograph of the US Corps of Cadets at West Point. Although undated, it was probably taken sometime between 1860 and 1862.

From the foreword by C. G. Jung (1956): "The problem this book is concerned with is one in which I, too, have been interested for a long time. It is now exactly fifty years since I learned, thanks to the association experiment, the role which complexes play in our conscious life . . . Dr. Jacobi has made it her task, in this book, to expound the important connection on the one hand between the individual complex and the universal, instinctual archetype, and on the other hand between this and the symbol. The appearance of her study is the more welcome to me in that the concept of the archetype has given rise to the greatest misunderstandings and -- if one may judge by the adverse criticisms -- must be presumed to be very difficult to comprehend. Anyone, therefore, who has misgivings on this score can seek information in this volume, which also takes account of much of the literature."

Textbook Jung made clear by the woman who gave Robert Moore such a bad time at the Jung Institute. Recommended for beginners just venturing into Jung's thought. Don't expect anything innovative.

It is very interesting and accessible, even for the ones not familiar with Jung's theories. It is a good introduction that makes you wanting to know more about C.G. Jung.

The book itself is amazing, and is a most for anyone studying the constitution or constitutional law. However, the Cd-rom version is signifacantly easier to use, and a lot cheaper. Plus there is no real reason to buy the CD or Book because the whole thing is on at the Chicago University webpage for free. But, if you need some sort of hard copy, go with the CD

This is a monumental work, which I think is a must have for student of jurisprudence and constitutional law. I found it incredibly useful as a law student in studying the debates and understanding developments in the common law tradition and constitutional history since the inception of the Republic. It is well organized, and though their is some duplication of materials, it serves the purpose of making the reference more accessible and user-friendly rather than having a cross-referencing scheme. Perhaps, the other user might be right in pointing out that the CD-ROM might be better suited for some users. I have an affinity for the printed matter and the organization makes things relatively easy to find. Though, it is available online for free.

This 5-volume set is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the historical context of the U.S. Constitution. The editors have divided the Constitution up clause by clause. For each section they provide primary, explanatory materials such as letters, records of debates, and early case law. These resources reveal what the writers of the Constitution intended with the language they chose and how that langauge was orginally interpreted. The editors also provide interesting materials on early English law, showing the legal backdrop the Founders worked against.

For example, I found interesting the books' treatment of the second amendment's protection of weapons ownership. The volume provides the early English history of gun control, debates from the Constitutional convention on the proper role for militias, and reports from the earliest litigation on the right to carry concealed weapons.

The wisdom of our Founding Fathers -- collected in these five volumes -- helps inform modern debates on the many subjects that have roots in the words of the Constitution. Highly recommended.

The first in a series of trail drive books, Mr. Compton creates a vivid picture of those days following the civil war. This is a real "cowboys and Indians" book. Experience what it was like to drive cattle hundreds of miles so they could be sold.

OK, Compton isn't Harry Combs or Larry McMurtry, and there's that stale and predictable romance between the hardbitten hero and the scrappy farm girl. But Compton does offer an authentic picture of a trail drive across a landscape easterners can only dream about, and the man knows his history. I was pleased to see that the savagery on both sides of the Commanche conflict was accurately depicted--no PC here, thank God. Compton's neither a stylist nor a plotting genius. He just tells a good story about interesting (if limited) characters living their lives in a fascinating time and place.

This book is one of the best westerns that I have found and though no equal to Lamour it is close. Except for the langauge I would not change a thing. Goose makes me want to write a book about him alone.

This is NOT A HIKING GUIDE. This is a MTB guide to Idaho, a
fact which eluded the previous two reviewers. THERE ARE time and
difficulty ratings for each trail. It is well done and worth
your time if you are into MTB and would be in Idaho. It also
has altitude changes for the rides. Very helpful. Enjoy.

The trail descriptions are great. The maps are great. The depth is great.

BUT, there are two things this book is missing that any good hiking book has. Each and every trail description in this book has a 'quick glance' section which lists a quick description, general location, maps, special attractions, difficulty, season and contacts for more information - BUT not trail LENGTH or an estimated time to complete! You have to read the entire description to find the length and probably won't find an estimate of the time required. Sure, this is OK if your friend recommended hike 'X' and you want to look it up. But, it is terrible if you are looking for a hike of, say, 6 miles that you can complete in 3 hours. It's just not readily available - you'd have to read the whole book! Even better, many guides have an index of sorts where you can see this information (and the availablity of backcountry campsites) for all trails at a glance, then go to the specific trail(s) that interest you.

This is what this otherwise great guide is missing. I returned mine and picked up 'Trails of Western Idaho' by Margaret Fuller instead - which does contain this information. Ms. Fuller's book is older (1992 vs. 1995 for this Falcon Guide), but not terribly so. She has some newer revisions for her other quides and I'm hoping this one will be reviced soon as well!

Falcon's guides are consistently good references to the areas they cover, and this is no exception. Reading it will inform you about the many excellent wilderness hiking opportunities in this beautiful state. For more specifics on an area, like the Sawtooths, also consider one of Lynn Stone's books, like Hiking Idaho's Sawtooth Country.

Was this a Power Point presentation... gone missing?

First, it's important to realize that this book is part of a series of "Introducing..." books from a UK publisher. So good authors were probably forced to follow a bad format.

That format apparently required glitzy graphics which overpowered the book. Each small page seemed to be on a separate topic... much like a Power Point slide presentation.

There was disappointingly little coverage of the math side of the material. OK, there really was next to none. The saving grace was the coverage of where fractals were being used in practical applications.

Let me tell you a little more on these graphics. They were (professionally done) hand drawn cartoons. Mostly of famous mathematicians having quirky things to say about the subject, on an 8th grade level.

Overall, I think the authors did a fair job of trying to jamb an excellent subject into a stupid book format. The problem lies most likely at the feet of the publisher. This format makes sense for some of their other 8th grade books: "Introducing Feminism"... Freud... Jung... Marx... Einstein, etc. How they were able to pull off "Introducing Math" in one of these small books is probably a story in and of itself. They even have an "Introducing a Post-Feminism" book, if the first one was not enough.

This book was not a complete zero for me, as I did learn many new things. It was a fast read, but I think I have yet to find the best introductory book on Fractals. If you buy this book, you'll never have to pick up a pencil and solve a problem, or even use a calculator. It's just all... a quick read.

John Dunbar

This book was very interesting. It takes a look at fractals and their basic geometric properties and gives a fairly extensive history from their discovery to their current use today. This book is not technical at all and could be read by almost anyone. The best part about this book is that it offers numerous reasons for why we should care about fractals in the first place. It offers an argument that nature is naturally based on fractals and that an understanding of fractals is essential to understanding nature. The book has a comic on just about every page making it an enjoyable and quick read.

Some of the not-so-great aspects of the book are that it is almost too short, not quite technical enough, and has grammatical errors all over the place. I read this book in one sitting and it left me wanting to know more. It makes up for this, however, by listing several books about fractals and chaos theory for you to move on to after reading this book as well as telling you the level of expertise one would need to read these other books. The grammatical errors in the book are numerous. It makes me believe that no one proof read this book before it was published.

Overall, this is a great book to start learning about fractals with. If you are a math whiz, then perhaps you might want to look elsewhere for a more formal introduction to the mathematical properties of fractals, but for the layman, this book is great.

Discovered this book serendipitously- It's easy to read, and the witty illustrations pull you right into it. It's a good book because, while it follows a logical sequence of explanation of fractals, it can also be opened almost anywhere and "read in". I will pass this book on, both to adults and young people I know, and they will get a great introduction to fractals!

This was the first reference book I purchased when I began collecting depression glass. Although there are color photos, few patterns are represented. The patterns of manufacturers are line listed at the end of the depression glass section but quite a few of the patterns are not represented in the detail (the most important) section of the book. Representation of the patterns detailed are in a very poor quality black and white, making it difficult to match a piece of glassware with the pattern. Although Kovel seems to be a well respected authority in a number of collectible arenas, I saw no sign of expertise in this book. I would not recommend this book to anyone especially beginners.

This book was well worth buying! Had the patterns I was interested, plus more, I've even started new collections from patterns I saw in this book. Great pictures, too. The Kovels did it again!

Super pictures to help identify types of glass, with good history of each. Exciting to see the actual worth of items. Perfect size book (not bulky) to take with you when exploring the antique stores. I highly recommend this book.

This book is fun, there is no doubt about that. However, as an educational tool for blues guitar, it would not be my first recommendation. The price is right and that is what give it my third star.

This book and CD combination make a very nice practice and learning tool for the aspiring blues player. The book illustrates scales and licks in both standard notation and TAB. Chord progressions are shown for each of the 10 tracks on the CD. Various blues textures and keys are explored. Various rythm patterns are illustrated on the CD as well.

While this material could be used to some advantage by the neophyte, it assumes a basic familiarity with guitar, rythm, and picking basics, and with the blues genre as well. And though it correlates the scale patterns with the tracks in the various keys, it does not explain how to use them to improvise or construct solos (for this reason I withheld a fifth star). It also does not cover topics such as turnarounds, double stops, bends, slides, etc.

"Modern Blues Jamtrax" is best used with other blues instruction and lesson materials. I would highly recommend it for the advanced beginner or intermediate player on its value as a practice aid.

This set is in the vein of Modern, Blues/Rock like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Cray, Clapton, and ZZ Top. It contains jams that are built around the simplicity of a blues progression, but with all the nuances and groove that keep the blues form interesting, alive and well - even after all these years.

Most importantly it's a guitar lesson that you can use anytime. I found it to be a great way to break out of my guitar playing rut.

First I listened to it checking out the feel and chord progressions. Then I tried to copy the voicings and Rythym Riffs. When I felt comfortable, I began to work with scales and riffs suggested for each track. By the end of the week my chops were feeling like the good 'ole days, when I had free time to jam with alot of different people.

All in all, it's definitly worth it. In fact, I'm looking to get the Rock Trax book next.